The Iifa Treehouse
by XD
Summary: Zidane plus Kuja plus Mikoto equals? Why, familial rivalry, of course!


Standard disclaimers apply. 

Warning: SPOILERS for the ending of FF9.

IMPORTANT NOTE (please read! ^_^x):  
Just a little something to facilitate better understanding of this little ficlet. This is actually based on a doujinshi of Nefas, Okiek and myself, called the Shock Kuja Project! The doujin kicks off with the three Genome siblings surviving the Iifa Tree havoc, and building a Treehouse (called the Iifa Treehouse) there to live as a family for as long as time permits them to. As the day stretches by, more and more things happen as sibling rivalry and inevitable friction occurs. Will the Genome trio triumph over their little differences?

  
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The Iifa Treehouse  
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Monday

  
"Just what is going on in that thick head of yours?!"

It was Zidane.

"Nothing a monkey like you would ever understand!"

And Kuja.

Mikoto turned to look at the makeshift calendar hanging by the side of the window, and sighed inwardly. It was a Monday, and she knew why the two siblings of hers were so heated up. You see, Mondays were shopping days. That meant Zidane would go out of the Iifa Treehouse to the nearest town to try to stock up on things which otherwise couldn't be grown, reared, or summoned. Unfortunately, the two Genome brothers had differences the sturdiest sheet of mithril couldn't cover. They quarreled so often, it was getting boring. Mikoto decided to concentrate on watering the plants instead.

"IT'S NOT LIKE WE CAN'T AFFORD IT!!"

"THAT'S NOT THE DAMNED POINT!!!"

The youngest Genome winced. It was the first time the shouting had escalated to such volumes and she was truly curious. Putting the watering can aside, she wandered into the room where her two brothers were, only to find them throwing sticks and tree roots at one another. She blinked.

"PIG!!" Kuja stuck his tongue out and made a face. Zidane bristled.

"COW!!" The young bandit made a magnificent rebutt on Kuja's figure of pride. Kuja's veins popped.

"HMPH!!!" They both snorted in unison and stalked off in opposite directions, completely oblivious of Mikoto's existence. She blinked again.

A wind blew from nowhere and picked her hair along with it.

"What's going on?" She wondered aloud. She saw Zidane near the entrance of the treehouse and decided to find out.

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Zidane was a volcano waiting to erupt, when Mikoto walked over. He finished putting his shoes on and grabbed an overhanging root, meaning to swing out of the treehouse.

"The dwarves at Conde will be frightened out of their wits should you go there with a face like that." Mikoto quietly commented. Her brother turned to glare mildly at her.

They continued staring.

"You won't understand, Mikoto." Zidane finally said, breaking the silence and looking away. "You won't understand..."

The younger Genome raised an eyebrow, as if challenging Zidane to try her. "Why wouldn't I understand?" She asked, with the innocence of a dove. This only made Zidane squirm more.

"Because..." Zidane clasped the sides of his head with his hands, debating whether he should say the words out loud. "Because..." he breathed deeply. "Because you're a girl!!" He finally blurted. Quickly, before Mikoto could question him any further, however, he grabbed the tree root and whistled out of the treehouse in a trail of smoke.

The expressionless girl's eyebrow twitched a little. "Of course I wouldn't understand." She sighed. "You didn't even told me anything that would vaguely qualify as a hint!" She mumbled incoherently for a few more seconds before turning around to try to spot her other target: Kuja.

Her eldest brother was seated upon an outcrop, with his feet dangling from the huge overhanging tree root. His shoulders were uncharacteristically hunched, which made him look rather small despite his otherwise grand appearance. The girl made as little noise as it was possible, as she tiptoed carefully near the root Kuja had sat himself on.

"Mikoto." Her brother deadpanned. Mikoto took that as acknowledgement and sat down beside Kuja.

"What did you ask him to buy?" She asked, a tinge of curiousity in her voice.

"Nothing /you/ would squirm and whine so much about, anyway," the silver-haired man almost snorted.

The young genome's eyes narrowed. It couldn't be - !!

"Kuja, don't tell me..." She was about to continue when the silver-haired ex-villian raised his voice to cut her short.

"Oh, I've had enough! I'm going back to my beauty sleep!" He spun around and did not look at Mikoto as he stalked away, back to where his hammock hung between two gaudy-looking tree roots.

The youngest of the genomes blinked questioningly at her brother's receding figure. And then a ghost of a smile flashed over her perpetually emotionless countenance. "I see," her voice was almost snuffled out by a giggle.

  
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When Kuja woke up from his 'beauty sleep', it was mid-afternoon. He yawned and stretched luxuriantly, before doubling back on the hammock with a content expression on his face. Then, as the events of the day returned to haunt him, his aura became sombre.

Irritation hooded his eyes for a slight moment, when he evidently thought back about something unpleasant to him. Heaving himself up, however, he soon became a determined figure stomping off towards an unseen goal.

Behind the large tree root, Mikoto giggled.

  
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Zidane stepped into the cosy little area they had designated for living, drawing the single piece of cloth away from his eyes to gaze around him. He looked at the goods he held in his hands and cringed slightly, trying to disassociate himself as much as possible with them. Snucking slowly to the oldest Genome's room, he was more than glad to find an empty space awaiting him. He had not wanted to hear what Kuja would have said had the silver-haired man happen to chance upon Zidane with /those things/ in his hands.

Quickly placing them on the nearest makeshift table, which was in plain sight of the hammock (where Kuja spent most of his time, preening), he exited the room stealthily.

"Zidane," Mikoto met him before he had moved three steps away, "I was wondering if you could help me go to the kitchen to check on the stock of instant noodles."

The older Genome eyed the girl curiously. Mikoto was never one to shrink from her own responsibilities, and that grin threatening to break out on her face could not bear good tidings. "Why?" He asked.

"Because," she whipped out a hammer and a bucket of rusty nails Zidane had procured a few weeks ago to fix some of the roots in place, "I'm going to repair the door screen the both of you broke last Monday while arguing over breakfast."

"I'll do that," Zidane started walking closer to the pink-clad Genome, hand outstretched, "you don't have enough strength for that. You go check on the stock."

He was surprised into stopping, when Mikoto leapt backwards while he approached. She gently shook her head. "Check on the stock, Zidane! Bye bye then!" She waved and was on her merry way.

That left Zidane to stare at her receding figure. "Eh?" He was bug-eyed. "Sometimes I just can't figure girls out," he shook his head, turning around nevertheless in the direction of the kitchen. He stopped in front of the stock shelf, eyeing the stacks of packed and tinned food with mild interest. Taking note of whatever it was that would require a restock by the end of next week, he was about to trudge out when the large notice board of assignments on the side of the shelf caught his eye.

"Oh yeah," the monkey sighed to himself, "I was supposed to do laundry today too."

It was at the precise moment of time that the door screen to the laundry area of the Treehouse slid open, and a disinterested looking Kuja stepped out into the open.

Both Genomes locked sights for a split second.

Then, wordlessly, Kuja breezed gracefully by the younger boy, mumbling something incoherent under his breath. Zidane turned his lip up disdainfully at the older man's back, and would have stuck his tongue out as well if he hadn't remembered that there was still a pile of laundry waiting for him. Sighing again, he turned the door screen aside and stepped into the laundry area, wondering how much time it would take him for this round. Experience told him it would probably take the rest of the day, seeing how there were three people (one of whom bathed three times a day in perfumed water, no less), and a week's worth of clothing...

It was the sweet scent of washing powder and soap buds which overpowered him initially. He then stopped short, jaw completely slack with wonderment.

The laundry had already been done, and the pieces of clothing flapping about on the clothesline, embracing the thin tendrils of sunlight which seeped through the overhanging roots of the Iifa Tree.

Words caught in Zidane's throat, but a single name managed to escape.

"Kuja..."

  
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And Kuja himself was at a loss of words when he stepped into the room to find the goods he had asked Zidane to buy staring right back at him. He breathed and blinked, then allowed a smirk to slip into his face as he picked the stuff up.

"You shouldn't ask Zidane to buy cosmetics for you, Kuja," Mikoto's mocking voice came from the door, "he must have been utterly humiliated to be asking for things like that."

Kuja huffed at that. "Humiliation is necessary for beauty."

Although she did not understand the logic behind that, the little Genome smiled warmly at her eldest brother.

"Hey guys," Zidane's shout caught their attention, "potato stew for lunch, anyone?"

  
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The End  
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OMAKE

Zidane: Hey, Kuja! You're not supposed to use the bleach like that! *GASP* OHMYGOSH! My pants are all white now!!

Kuja: Bah. White goes better with your hair anyway, you fashion-disaster. And you're one to say! Look at this nail polish you got - it's giving the skin around my nail /rashes/! I knew I shouldn't have asked a monkey like you to buy my beauty stuff for me!

Zidane: RAWR!!

Kuja: GWARR!!!!

Mikoto: What a happy family we are! ^_^

  
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The End For Real  
16/10/2003  
xd@tougenkyou.net

Needless to say, this fic is dedicated to Nefas and Okiek, for their constant patience. m(_ _)m


End file.
